Ohio Rights Group wants medical marijuana legalized in Ohio

MORNING JOURNAL/SAM GREENE
A copy of the proposed Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment in Oberlin, Ohio, on Saturday, March 16, 2013. The Ohio Rights Group is starting a petition campaign gathering signatures in an effort to get the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment on the ballot, which would legalize the use of marijuana for medical and industrial use.

MORNING JOURNAL/SAM GREENE
Ohio Rights Group president John Pardee (right) collects his first petition signature from volunteer Tyler Cotton (left) in Oberlin, Ohio, on Saturday, March 16, 2013. The Ohio Rights Group is starting a petition campaign gathering signatures in an effort to get the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment on the ballot, which would legalize the use of marijuana for medical and industrial use.

AMHERST -- Ohio voters could see an Ohio constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would legalize medical marijuana and create 1,000,000 new jobs statewide, said Ohio Rights Group President John Pardee.

The Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment, to allow legal use of medical marijuana and permission to grow industrial hemp, was launched this weekend in Lorain County.

On Saturday, Pardee and his wife, Linda, of Amherst, headed an event in Oberlin launching a drive to collect the 1,000 signatures required to obtain the approval of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine for a full statewide petition.

Once approved by the attorney general, the group will need to collect 385,000 signatures of registered voters to put the amendment on the state ballot.

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"We are for medical marijuana for qualifying residents and veterans in need, but we're also incorporating the permission for farmers to grow industrial hemp," Pardee said. "There are very low levels of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive drug compound in marijuana, in hemp. But because it's a part of the cannabis genus, it is also prohibited."

A bill like the cannabis rights amendment has never been on the ballot in Ohio. Pardee hopes working with state and local politicians will help make others aware of the potential opportunities that could be created by the passage of this bill.

"This would benefit blighted cities like Lorain where many industries have been shuttered," he said. "We're perfectly positioned with our infrastructure and our rail lines. People are completely oblivious to what it can do for the state of Ohio."

Pardee's involvement with the Ohio Rights Group started after his son, Jason, was seriously injured in a near-fatal car accident in Florida five years ago. Doctors prescribed Jason a slew of high opiate painkillers, all of which caused terrible side effects, Pardee said.

"On his own, outside any medical intervention, my son discovered that medical cannabis worked better to make his life livable than anything his capable physicians could provide," Pardee said.

Intrigued with his son's unregulated treatment, Pardee decided to seek out the pros and cons of medical marijuana.

"I was compelled to learn all I could about the use of cannabis for medicine for my son's welfare," he said. "My first inclination was to caution Jason about becoming dependent. I was sure I would find something I could point to as a reason to caution him about his chosen therapy."

However, the more Pardee researched, the more he reconsidered his initial reaction to his son's choice of medication.

"I learned of the efficacy of the set of compounds found in cannabis called cannabinoids," he said. "The human body has built-in cannabinoid receptors. The central nervous system accepts cannabinoid signals like a door lock receives a key. There is much evidence that humans have used cannabis in one form or another for over 10,000 years."

Pardee said the polls show voters support medical marijuana in Ohio by more than 70 percent. He said the true challenge will be convincing some conservative voters about the benefits of cannabis -- although conservative Libertarians support this measure.

"This type of bill has never crossed the threshold for signatures for approval," he said. "That's going to change this time. We know Ohio is a little more conservative than the states that currently allow this therapy and our population is older too, but a lot of older folks could really benefit from medical cannabis. Some doctors claim cannabis regiments could remove three or four different prescription pills people are taking. It's one therapy that takes care of different things."

A few of the diseases that would qualify under the bill for use of medical marijuana include glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer, Crohn's disease, hepatitis C, mylomalacia, post-traumatic stress, arthritis, sickle cell anemia and Tourette's syndrome.

To see the full list of qualifying aliments visit http:bit.ly/YAZep4.

Elements of the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment are completely unique to Ohio and the industrial hemp component would bring new possibilities for Ohio workers and the local economy.

"What people don't realize is it's more efficient for people to grow an acre of hemp for fuel than it is an acre of corn for ethanol," Pardee said. "Hemp can be used in fibers, foods, lubricants, clothing, synthetics, rubber and building material. It literally has 50,000 uses."

Linda Pardee, who is also involved with the Ohio Rights Group, said homes made of hemp walls have an estimated lifespan of 600 to 800 years. The hemp walls are constructed by mixing hemp, lime and water and are actually carbon negative.

"As the walls breathe they continue to remove the carbon dioxide from the air. The lime in the walls calcifies over time, which causes the walls to harden," she said. "Building materials made out of hemp are also mold and termite resistant."

So far, the response to the proposed Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment has been overwhelming, John Pardee said. The next step will be recruiting enough volunteers and obtaining certified signatures.

"People are calling every day and asking how they can help," he said. "We have a really interesting approach. I think the reason we're going to win this time is because of the age of social media. We're planning on making our petition available online so people can print it out and obtain signatures on their own. That way signatures can be mailed into us from all four corners of the state."